CLARION, Pa. (EYT/D9) — After digging themselves an early hole, the Clarion-Limestone boys basketball team kept chipping away before finally coming up with a 60-57 victory over rival Clarion on Wednesday evening.
(Pictured above, Jase Ferguson)
The Lions had to withstand a hot shooting night from Devon Lauer, who deposited 24 points — including a trio of 3-pointers. The Lions also had to withstand a malfunction with the scoreboard during the first quarter.
“That was a testament to these kids to withstand that early deficit and to fight back,” said C-L head coach Pat Craig. “I think the scoreboard being off actually helped us as well because it kind of kept the crowd out of it a bit.”
Dawson Smail scored 14 points while Bryce Brinkley added eight points for Clarion, which made just 5-of-15 free throws for the game.
“Turnovers, rebounds, and free throws are all things we talked about at the beginning of the season that we needed to control during the season,” said Clarion head coach Tom Lewis. “Tonight, we struggled in all three of those phases and you see what the result turned out to be. We deserved to lose the game when we failed to execute in all those areas.”
Clarion Area and Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
Jase Ferguson scored 18 points to lead C-L (3-3 overall) while Jack Craig scored 11 points with Jack Callen adding nine points, mostly coming from the free throw line where he finished 7-of-10. C-L finished 15-of-22 from the free throw line. Paul Craig also chipped in with eight points.
“Jack struggled a bit at the line this season, but tonight he was focused and knocked most of them down including a couple when it mattered most toward the end of the game,” said Pat Craig.
Clarion stormed out of the gate for a 7-0 lead with Lauer scoring all seven points. The lead would grow to 12-3 before C-L finished off the quarter with a 12-6 edge to close to within three at 18-15 after one.
Callen and Ty Rankin would score to start the second quarter to give the Lions their first lead of the game at 19-18. The quarter would seesaw back and forth with the Lions holding a 13-9 edge on the scoreboard in taking a 28-27 lead into halftime.
Both offenses would explode for 20 points each leaving C-L with a 48-47 lead entering the final quarter.
C-L would build a seven-point lead at 56-49 with 4:20 to play. A 6-2 run by Clarion would pull the Bobcats to within three at 58-55 with 1:07 to play.
Clarion would get the ball back and attempt to work the ball around for a tying three-pointer but would misfire and Callen would be fouled with 20 seconds remaining. He’d make one of two free throws for a 59-55 lead.
Lauer would drive the lane for a layup to cut the lead to 59-57 with 12 seconds left. Callen again would be fouled with eight seconds remaining. Once again he’d make one of two free throws to push the lead to three at 60-57. Ty Rankin would come up with a steal with under a second remaining to deny Clarion of a potential game-tying three-point attempt at the end of the contest.
“This is a huge win for us,” said Craig. “We have a really tough schedule with 10 of our first 11 games on the road and all against some pretty tough teams. Getting a win against a very good Clarion team means a lot not just for the team, but for these kids in general.”
Clarion Area and Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
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